As the Freewill Shakespeare Festival goes into it’s closing weekend, I thought I would share some of the photography I’ve taken throughout the contract. I’m so grateful to the entire cast and crew for being open to this photographic journey from day one.

Yesterday was wee little beautiful Penelope’s due date, but she was just SO excited to meet her parents she came a little earlier. I’m so pleased we were able to get these photos done with lots of time to spare. This is the beginning of a very wonderful journey for my dear friends Clinton and Elena, with their wonderful little ‘cute as a button’ girl. Here’s a glimpse at that brief moment when Penelope was growing inside her mother’s body, with every passing week, she was a new… slightly larger vegetable and/or fruit…

It’s cake smashing time! Lovely little baby Alexis just turned one today and just a few days ago we had this wonderful little cake smash party for her. She got pretty focused on that lump of sugar in front of her. I love how at the end of the ‘massacre’ the white backdrop looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. Happy first birthday Alexis! You are the cutest!

I’m so excited to share a few more shots from contest session I had earlier this summer. Funny story, I actually had zero plans to do a makeover session, but Michael Berard over at Pose Hair dt contacted me during a headshot contest promo I was doing on facebook and offered up the brilliant talents of himself and HaeJin Chang for the contest, so I thought ‘Heck, I should just do another one!’

And here we are! Here’s just a few of the wonderful portraits we all created that day.

and since that moment, I’ve been seeing the blue and pink side lighting pop up into a lot of fashion stuff in magazines.

I’m so thrilled I was able to finally play with those gels… I’ve stayed away from gels since now, but I’m loving what they can add.

Be sure to watch THISVIDEO I MADEABOUTTHESHOOT, funny story about that….I was showing a few images to Lauren just on the back of my camera. I started flipping through them quickly and she mentioned that was her favourite thing in shoots… to see all the images fly by really quickly in a sort of stop motion way…. animating the shots. I couldn’t resist throwing together a video with every single picture I took that day. Have a watch, it’s super cool!

This past September I took some promo shots for Fatboy at the Roxy Theatre.I’ve compiled some images from that shoot in black and white, some test shots, some just seconds from the shoot.I was in pure denial when I heard it had crumbled to the ground earlier this week.My heart goes out to everyone at Theatre Network for this shattering loss.

And while the Roxy was only a space, it felt like our space, this is where so many theatre artists of my generation started their careers. It truly was a place to Network. It felt like home and I have memories of it like I would of my first childhood home. I’m most sad that more memories couldn’t be made in this building before it’s demise, I’m sad that the future generations of theatre artist’s won’t know this space… but I’m glad it will forever live on in the thousands of stories onstage and offstage it harboured.

Bless you Ryan Parker! I'm crying and comforted all at once. I adore you, in case ya didn't know. I bet there aren't a ton of pictures of the backstage area, where I personally spent a LOT of time. Lol. 💖😘

I’m putting all my cards on the table right off the bat here, I absolutely love my sister. I worshipped the ground she walked on when I was younger and while perhaps worshipping may go a little too far in my adult years, I respect her more than words can say. Her family! This is her family! Meet Mike, her perfect match, a totally down to earth lovable guy. Danika her eldest daughter, the life of ANY and EVERY party, brilliant, intelligent and tons of energy. And Maya her youngest daughter who has a better understanding of comedy than I did in my 20’s… seriously, watch out… she. is. hilarious.

Being an Uncle is pretty fantastic with nieces like this…. and being a brother is pretty amazing when you have a sister like Becky. She’s really actually the best and her husband is awesome. I mean, what more could I ask for?

This September my wife had the opportunity to spend three weeks out at The Haven on Gabriola Island doing an Artist Residency. I went out there to visit, take pictures of the beautiful surrondings and pick her up. I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon watching Dirk Huysman and Mary Ann Richards of ‘D’dance Glass’ blow glass in their studio. Dirk and Mary Ann also happen to be my talented wife’s talented Uncle and Aunt. They’ve been working with glass for seventeen years and moved out to Gabriola to pursue their dreams. Dirk and Mary Ann really inspired me during this trip. Of course I was in awe of how the glass was made, the art and the science of it. But most of all, I was in awe and inspired by how they worked together. It’s the best kind of relationship, it’s artistic, it’s creative, it’s love. I look up to them and I can only hope that 10-20-30 years down the road my relationship with my wife is as strong as theirs.

About

Ryan Parker is a freelance Headshot, Portrait and Studio Photographer based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is also an accomplished film and theatre actor and takes his experience from the acting world into his studio.